Tag Archives: Mumbai terror attacks

Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive during the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai in 2008, was hanged at the Yerwada Jail in Pune at 7.30 am IST today.

Today, Wednesday Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the Indian government tried to reach to the family members of Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab, who was hanged this morning in Pune’s Yerwada jail. He said: “Kasab has been hanged to death today morning at Pune’s jail. He was taken to Pune from Mumbai two days back. Kasab has been buried in Yerwada jail premises itself.”

Here are some reactions on the hanging:

K. Unnikrishnan, father of NSG commando Major Sandeep who died during the 26/11 terror attacks:

“I have said in the past during my emotional moments that he should be hanged by the lamp post. But today I say it is done. This is one step. Surely , this is not a closure for us. The investigation must continue and the other culprits should be booked by Pakistan more than by India.”

Smita Salaskar, wife of police officer Vijay Salaskar who was killed during the attacks:

“With this hanging, homage has been paid to my husband. But the real homage will be the conviction of other accused shielded in Pakistan. Late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had also demanded Kasab’s hanging. His wish and our wish have been finally fulfilled. The entire family is happy to hear the news that Kasab was hanged, ahead of the fourth anniversary of the attack. I hope the death sentence of Parliament House attack convict Afzal Guru would also be executed soon.”

Eknath Omble, brother of police officer Tukaram Omble who died while trying to capture Kasab:

“I am proud and very happy that my brother’s efforts have paid off. We are very happy and satisfied. Ajmal Kasab should have been hanged in public, but I know our law does not permit this. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has stood by his promise that he would take decisions that would satisfy the Indians.”

Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister of Home Affairs:

“Ajmal Kasab was hanged in Yerwada at 7:30 this morning. The President had rejected Kasab’s mercy plea on November 5. I signed it on the 6th and the Maharashtra government signed it on the 8th. The same day, we decided that he will be hanged on the 21st. We would have considered Pakistan’s request for the body, however, we have not yet received a request. The External Affairs Ministry had informed Pakistan that Kasab will be hanged.”

Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs:

“Everything has been done as per law. This shows the law applies to everyone the same. If Pakistan or the family asks for the body, we will consider it. Right now, we don’t have any such request. Our letter was not accepted by the Pakistan foreign office. We then sent them a fax indicating that the hanging will take place. We have fulfilled our obligation. Hope rule of law will prevail in Pakistan as well.”

Prithviraj Chavan, Maharashtra Chief Minister:

“According to the law, proceedings were carried out. He was moved to Pune from Mumbai two days ago. The judge had fixed the date for hanging and the sentence was carried out accordingly. Kasab had refused a will. He has been buried in Yerwada jail. With this it has been proved that India’s rule of law prevails. If someone breaks the law of land, he will be punished, even if it takes time and expenses. Any attack on the country will not be tolerated.”

R R Patil, Maharashtra Home Minister:

“This was an attack on our country. Many of our citizens were killed, including our brave officers. Nine terrorists were killed but one was caught alive. The special 26/11 court awarded death penalty to Kasab, the High Court and Supreme Court upheld it. He filed a mercy petition, but was rejected and he was hanged at 7:30 am this morning. This is a tribute to people and police officers who lost their lives during the attack.

Omar Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister tweeted:

“Gotta hand it to the Govts at the centre & in Mumbai for the mature way they handled this. Shows we can still keep a secret if we need to.”

Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister:

Narendra Modi tweeted this message: What about Afzal Guru, who attacked Parliament, our temple of democracy, in 2001? That offense predates Kasab’s heinous act by many years.

Digvijaya Singh, Senior Congress leader tweeted:

“Finally Kasab hanged. GOI should pursue the case of the Handlers in Pakistan. Afzal Guru’s case should also be expedited now.”

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP leader:

“Better late than never. This was in order. The enemy of the country has been punished.”

Milind Deora, Minister of State for Information Technology tweeted:

“So much for the right-wing sponsored ‘Congress is soft on terror’ debate! The Government’s actions make me a prouder Indian.”

Ujjwal Nikam, Special public prosecutor:

“It is a victory for the country. By hanging Kasab, we have paid homage to all those policemen and innocent persons who lost their lives. By Kasab’s conviction and death penalty, we have proved how the entire conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan. We have set an example that India will not tolerate such attacks and the accused will be brought to justice.”

Lalu Prasad Yadav, President Rashtriya Janata Dal:

“Kasab’s crime was established in the court of law and justice was accordingly served. Bad deeds will lead to a bad outcome.”

J.K. Dutt, National Security Guard Chief:

“On hearing the news of Kasab’s hanging, I felt all the ten terrorists who were involved in the incident were accounted for. But there is still some distance to be covered because there are other conspirators behind this incident sitting elsewhere and they need to be brought to account. We must remember those who lost their near and dear ones (during the 26/11 attacks), the incident will remain with them.”

Anna Hazare, Anti-corruption activist:

“It’s taken too long to hang Kasab. He should have been hanged in public (chauraha). A public hanging of Kasab would have been a lesson for anybody who causes loss of life in our country.”

The Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab on a killing spree at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station on November 26, 2008.

The globally condemned Mumbai terror attacks, began on Wednesday, November 26 and lasted until Saturday, November 29, 2008, resulting in166 people killed and at least 308 wounded.

On November 26, 2008, around 20:00, Indian Standard Time (IST), a 10-member team of terrorists from Pakistan came in inflatable speedboats. They came ashore at two locations in Colaba, Mumbai. They split into groups and went off in different directions.

Later, Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members of the Pakistan-based militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist outfit banned in India, Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, among others. He also confessed that they conducted the attacks with the support of Pakistan’s ISI.

During the 60-hour siege of Mumbai, the terrorists orchestrated 11 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai. Eight of the eleven coordinated attacks occurred in South Mumbai – at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the Oberoi Trident, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Metro Cinema, the Nariman House Jewish community center, and in a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier’s College. The other three attacks – an explosion in Mumbai’s port area, at Mazagaon, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.

The attacks began around 21:30 when two men, Ajmal Kasab and another gunman Khan opened fire, in the passenger hall, using AK-47 rifles. They killed 58 people and injured 104 others. Their assault ended at about 22:45. The two gunmen while fleeing the scene fired at pedestrians and police in the streets. They killed eight police officers.

The attackers then passed a police station. The police officers, short of arms and ammunitions, secured the gates and switched off the lights. They dared not confront the heavily armed terrorists. The two terrorists then headed towards Cama & Albless Hospital. However, the hospital staff locked all patient wards.

After the attackers had left the railway station, a team of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) led by chief Hemant Karkare arrived there. Not finding the terrorists at the railway station, they pursued the attackers.

When the ATS squad’s vehicle entered a lane next to the hospital, Kasab and Khan opened fire. The ATS team returned fire. Chief Hemant Karkare, Encounter Specialist, Vijay Salaskar and Senior Inspector Ashok Kamte succumbed to the bullets of the terrorists. Only Constable Arun Jadhav survived the attack but wounded. He radioed for help.

Kasab and Khan then drove off in the squad’s vehicle. Later, they abandoned it and seized a passenger car and ran into a police roadblock. The ensuing gun battle resulted in Khan’s death, the arrest of a wounded Kasab and the death of a police officer named Tukaram Omble.

By early morning of November 28, Mumbai Police and security forces secured all sites except the Taj hotel.

On November 29, the National Security Guards carried out Operation Black Tornado to flush out the attackers at the Taj hotel. It resulted in the deaths of the last remaining terrorists.

The Indian government insisted that the terrorists came to Mumbai from Pakistan, and their controllers were in Pakistan.

On May 6, 2010, the Mumbai trial court awarded the death penalty to Ajmal Kasab on all the 86 convicted charges.

Kasab appealed against his conviction and the death penalty. He said he deserved leniency for not being part of the larger conspiracy. He also argued that he wanted a fair trial and legal assistance as mandated under the terms of Article 22 (1) of the Indian Constitution. The court appointed senior advocate Raju Ramachandran to argue the case on behalf of Kasab.

On February 21, 2011, the Bombay High Court, and on August 29, 2012, India’s Supreme Court, upheld the death penalty imposed on Ajmal Amir Kasab, and rejected his appeal against the sentence in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Supreme Court underscored the fact that Kasab and the other nine Pakistanis who executed the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai were part of a “deception, the falsehood that the terrorists were Indian Muslims coming from Hyderabad and were connected with some fictitious organization called Mujaheddin, Hyderabad Deccan … .”

Justice CK Prasad and Justice Aftab Alam observed:

“If the appellant had not been caught alive and the investigating agencies had not been able to unravel the conspiracy fully and in all its devious ways, the terrorists might have passed as Indian Muslims and that would have led to devastating short-term and equally debilitating long-term consequences.

“It would have caused a cleavage of distrust and suspicion between communities and disturbed the communal peace and harmony of the country. It is not impossible that conflagrations would have erupted in different parts of the country, which the governments would have found difficult to contain.

“In this regard, the selection of the CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) as one of the targets for carnage assumes great importance. Trains leave for many parts of the country from the CST. Thus, as news of the carnage spread across the country through the media, travelers would start arriving in different parts of the country, some having lost their near and dear ones at CST, some with a wounded companion and others shell-shocked by the experience of a terrorist attack on the railway station. Their first-hand, eyewitness accounts of the carnage, added to reports in the print media and visuals in the electronic media, could be highly inflammatory and could easily evoke communal violence that would be difficult to contain.

“The deception was ominous because it aimed at destabilising Indian society and its governments. But it was equally distressing for being so deeply untruthful. Indian Muslims may have a long list of grievances against the establishment. Some of the grievances may be fanciful, some may be of their own making and some may be substantive. Nevertheless, no Indian Muslim would even think of venting his grievance like an animal, killing, maiming and wounding innocent people, his own countrymen. This is because he is not only loyal to his faith and community but equally loves his country and fellow countrymen.”

Majority of Indians, barring a few Islamists, want Ajmal Kasab, the ruthless Pakistani killer to die; however, they know that this will never happen on Indian soil as long as sycophant politicians, of all hues, who while welcoming the judgement of India’s Supreme Court, have their own agenda.

The other major deterrent to Kasab’s execution would be Amnesty International. Their web page, “RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS“, says,

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner.

The death penalty is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state.

It is carried out in the name of the nation’s entire population, and affects everyone. Everyone should be aware of what the death penalty is, how it is used, how it affects them and how it violates fundamental rights.”

Like any other Indian who loves his country, I cannot fully agree with the Amnesty International in the case of Ajmal Amir Kasab.

Archives

Visitors online

Join my RSS feed

Follow me on Facebook

I am a Credible Hulk

Categories

Categories

Disclaimer: All comments are moderated. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of "Impressions." We reserve the right not to post any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments. Anonymous comments are moderated. Once published, comments are visible to search engines and will remain in their archives. If you do not want your identity connected to comments on this site, please refrain from commenting or use a handle or alias instead of your real name.